Changing of Seasons

I love fall. The leaves change color, the humid summer air transforms into crisp cool breezes, my house smells like an apple pie and a pumpkin had a baby. So much sweetness. Love. Sigh....

But even though fall is BY FAR my favorite season, I love different things about each one. Summer is full of laying by the pool, gardening, traveling, and relaxing. Spring brings beauty, newness, and end of school. Even nasty winter has pros: Christmas, snow (only in the month of December is it allowed), seeing relatives, snuggling with hot cocoa and a good Christmas movie. There's something to love about each season.

There's also cons to each season though. I'm not a "negative nancy" by nature, but there are definite things, with each season, that I could do without. Such as:

Spring: mud...e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. We live on a farm. Need I say more?

Summer: humidity + naturally curly but I want a part of it straight hair = pure frustration

Winter: Snow, not in December. Enough said.

And even sweet sweet fall has it's downfall.....bugs. Flies, japanese beetles, and boxelder bugs become a modern day version of the Biblical plagues here. Gross.

As I was channeling my inner Aristotle about such things, I was struck at how similar the concept is to seasons in life. Life is a constant "change of seasons". And you know what?? I'm SO grateful! As much as I would love to life in permanent "fall" mode, I would honestly get bored of it eventually. I welcome change. Change brings new, fresh, and often exciting things! It can also bring devastation, despair, and rocky roads. Just like the seasons, there can be good and hard things with each transition.

Sometimes we are in a season that we wish would last forever. But you know what? I guarantee you, at some point, you would long for some change of some kind. It's in our nature. And if we lived in the same season all the time, we wouldn't grow, we wouldn't learn, and we wouldn't experience God in ways that we never would otherwise. Change is good friends. SO good.

So rather than fight it or dread it....embrace it. Look at it as an exciting adventure. If it's tragedy you're facing, allow yourself to grieve...but also search for God through it. Open yourself to Him so that you can experience Him in an amazing way, and so that He can use you in it. Having that perspective changes everything. It may not remove the blow...but it can soften it :)

Sweet friend....I've been there. I've seen A LOT of the changing of seasons in my life....and it's not done yet. But I've learned that there is something to be gained by each one. Treasure it because it won't last forever. That season will change :)